Rural TV reception

[scgargoyle]

tvfool.com is a good site to guesstimate reception.

 

[BobRip]

Do you have all tree branches cleared from around the dish?

On the antenna: We used to have a rule of thumb that for every 10 feet of antenna elevation the signal strength will double. Height is everything. I have seen antennas on the top of mountains run to homes in valleys. Also good antenna with amplifier near the antenna and a rotor.

 

[ultrarunner]

UHF is pretty much line of sight, and thanks to the curvature of the Earth, 60 miles is about the limit even if the terrain is dead flat. VHF is slightly more forgiving, but even there 100 miles is about the limit. I once lived at Eola Crest in Oregon, and with Radio Shack's best antenna, mast mount amp and a rotator I could pick up VHF signals from Olympia to Medford, but that was from the top of the highest hill around. I also got an amazing number of FM stations. There are still a few digital stations broadcasting VHF, but half the VHF band was reassigned to emergency communication.

Where I live now is very similar to you. Not only do we not get television, we only get 3 radio stations and no cell service. The satellite is great, and Dish includes both Sirius radio and a bunch of CD channels. I have DSL, but it's too slow to stream video. Satellite is worth the money.

Living just 10 minutes from the steps of the capital in Olympia we had no TV reception due to the terrain... dial up for Internet and satellite are the only options.

The bid from Comcast to connect was $14,000! No thank you.

 

[wcampbell47]

I live 80 miles from TV towers. I use the DB8 HD antennae from antennas direct dot com. I get several channels some better quality than others. I would probably get better reception if I elevated it more.

I bought mine about 4 years ago as a kit. Antennae, booster and 100 feet of cable. Suggest you Google DB8 HD antennae or 80 something similar. It is a one time buy, no monthly fees.

Since rural living can also be challenging for cell service and internet look into a cell phone signal booster. Wilson Electronics has worked well for me.

 

[westcliffe01]

Back in the early 70's there were no television transmitters anywhere near where I lived and we had no TV. Some radio hams in town got together and got permission from the town to put up a huge array on a local mountaintop. Basically on 1 side of the ridge was an array of Yagi antennas, polarized the right way for the transmitting station over 100 miles away. This signal was fed into a low power amplifier which then fed into a long run of coax over the ridge to the other side which faced the town but was out of sight of the receiving antenna array. The transmitting antennas were simple dipoles, with 90 degree different polarization than the receiving antenna (to help in isolation). This allowed everyone in town to receive TV from well over 100 miles away (just a single channel). That was good enough until a transmitting tower went up nearby a couple of years later.

I'm guessing a similar arrangement today would be hard to justify unless a lot of people contributed to cover the cost and didn't whine over the programming...

Unless you can move the antenna to the top of the "hills on both sides", you're destined for satellite. There are some free satellite services - look up "free to air". Otherwise, give DirecTV a call and be happy.
Mike

 

[farmfun]

Thanks for the advice. The disk is located right next to our deck. When snow accumulation occurs, I do reach over with the broom and sweep it off. But when there is a heavy severe rain storm, we lose our signal quite often. The signal comes and goes at times and if the thunderstorm is really severe, we don't regain a signal or reception until the storm passes. Any possible suggestions would be appreciated. We have called the 1-800 number several times and they insist that this is the norm. Our Son has Downs and if the reception is delayed for extended periods, he gets despondent when he misses his shows.

You are being told the truth. The size of the dish restricts signal strength and the Ku band transit signal is attenuated by rain. The reason cable systems don't go down is they generally run a 4.5 meter or larger antenna. The only way to reduce the occurrences is by installing larger diameter dish 1.2, 1.8 or 2.8 meter and this depends on your mount strength, obtaining a lower noise figure LNB or a combination of the 2.

 

[k0ua]

You are being told the truth. The size of the dish restricts signal strength and the Ku band transit signal is attenuated by rain. The reason cable systems don't go down is they generally run a 4.5 meter or larger antenna. The only way to reduce the occurrences is by installing larger diameter dish 1.2, 1.8 or 2.8 meter and this depends on your mount strength, obtaining a lower noise figure LNB or a combination of the 2.

Yep and even the larger dishes at the cable company "wash out" occasionally when it rains hard enough. Much less but it does happen.

James K0UA

 

[tcreeley]

We always had free tv with rabbit ears. After the digital switch we don't have any signal that we can watch, with or without converter box or digital tv. We don't watch TV anymore. No cable on road and don't want to pay for new antenna outside, or dish. I think I prefer the old analog!

 

[dex3361]

I live in rural WV and I am surrounded by high hills and I live in the valley. I had marginal reception before the analog / digital switch. I used the site maps listed in an earlier post with great success. I actually gained channels by carefully placing the antennae and using a quality booster and high gain antennae. The maps are very accurate so take your time in moving the location around.

Digital Transition
Antennawebb

 

[ultrarunner]

Years ago when I worked in Austria the terrain made if very difficult for TV reception... many areas were simply out of luck and getting a couple of stations was rare outside a major city.

This was just when the government introduced free Satellite TV/Radio... within a few months every little mountain valley had dozens of free stations and many more premium with the purchase of a Smart Card.

I can still remember seeing on TV images of a big fire in Berkeley California from a little village high in an alpine valley...

Some of the dishes are very small... I would say about 16 inches and they would have issues with rain and snow... others put up huge dishes and they to would have issues with snow, but not rain.